6 October 2023 12:00 am Views - 88
By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana
Recurrent expenditure for some ministries will be slashed in 2024, the Appropriation Bill which was presented to Parliament revealed yesterday.
Accordingly, recurrent expenditure allocated for the Transport and Highways, Power and Energy, Tourism and Lands and Urban Development and Housing have been slashed. Focus has been made on capital expenditure instead for the said ministries. Only Rs. 910 million has been allocated for the power and energy ministry while a sum of Rs. 42,073 billion has been allocated as capital expenditure. The recurrent expenditure for the ministry of transport highways is Rs. 48.8 billion whereas Rs. 354.8 billion has been allocated for capital expenditure. The situation is same with the tourism and lands ministries. A sum of Rs. 7.6 billion has been allocated for recurrent expenditure for the said ministry while the sum allocated for capital expenditure is Rs. 11. 5 billion. Recurrent expenditure for the Ministry of Urban Development and Highways is Rs. 3.0 billion while capital expenditure for the ministry in 2024 would be Rs. 39.3 billion. Allocating more funds for capital expenditure and less for recurrent expenditure has not been visible during recent times.
The defence budget for the year 2024 has been increased to Rs. 423.7 billion compared to Rs. 410 billion in 2023. Amount allocated for the President increased to Rs. 6.6 billion compared to Rs. 3.7 billion in 2023. A sum of Rs. 723.4 billion has been allocated as total expenditure for the ministry of finance, economic stabilization national policies which is under the purview of the President. Health budget has been increased to Rs. 410.2 billion compared to Rs. 321.9 billion for this year.